Welcome back to another new comic book day, EveryWookiee!! Every week I take a look at the Star Wars comic releases and analyze for first appearances and key events that may be worth collecting or keeping an eye on for future development.
First appearances and keys from these weekly articles get added to or sister site and Star Wars comics first appearance and key issue database, Wookywiki.com!
This week, Doctor Aphra continues here Spark-possessed tear through the galaxy in Doctor Aphra #23, and Vader continues to repent for his sins in Darth Vader #26!
WARNING: Spoilers Ahead!
Doctor Aphra #23
(W) Alyssa Wong (A) Minkyu Jung (CA) W. Scott Forbes
SANA STARROS and her team are determined to rescue DOCTOR APHRA at any cost! But everyone’s keeping secrets… …and the SPARK ETERNAL has plans of its own!
In Shops: August 24, 2022
SRP: $3.99
Variants:
Aphra continues to cast a wake of mayhem across the galaxy in Doctor Aphra 23. Possessed by the Spark Eternal, she is on a quest for as much ancient Sith and dark side tech as she can get her hands on. It seems endless power is the Spark’s end-game.
Her first step? Infiltrate Crimson Dawn’s flagship, The Vermillion, and shake down the Archivist for info! The Archivist first appeared in Crimson Reign 1. She made a prior unnamed cameo in War of the Bounty Hunters 5.
This issue is a parade of old friends from this series. Sana Starros (cameo in Star Wars #4 (2015), full appearance in #6), tasked by Domina Tagge, has a motley crew of people who know Aphra best to try and divine where she would have run to. We have Aphra’s father Korin (first appeared in Doctor Aphra #1 (2016)), then Magna Tolvan (first appeared in Doctor Aphra #3 (2016)), Detta Yao and Eustacia Okka (both first appeared in Doctor Aphra #1 (2020)), and finally Kho Phon Farrus (first cameo in Doctor Aphra #16 (2020) with a full appearance in #17).
But somebody is tracking the trackers…
Those somebodies are Just Lucky and Ariole Yu. As of right now, we don’t know who’s paying these two to track down Aphra. They brought along the crew of Song, Kiehart, Venters, and Tucker. Everybody in this crew first appeared in Doctor Aphra #1 (2020).
Finally, they’re baaaaaaack! We find that Aphra didn’t leave clues to her whereabouts on the planet Birukay, she left some old friends who some would call “a trap!” Bee-Tee and Triple Zero first appeared in Darth Vader #3 (2015).
Darth Vader #26
(W) Greg Pak (A) Raffaele Ienco (CA) Rahzzah
INTO THE SAND! We all know about Anakin Skywalker’s aversion to finely ground particulate matter. But what does sand mean to the Dark Lord of the Sith? When Sabé, Vader’s unlikely new ally, goes missing, Vader must confront his own dark heart in the maelstrom of a terrible sandstorm – while tapping into one of his earliest skills in a wildly unexpected way!
In Shops: Aug 24, 2022
SRP: $3.99
Variants:
Tons of great action in this issue, but no first appearances or key events. Sabe and Vader are hunting a cruel governor who has enslaved former inhabitants of Tatooine. Among them are Kitster and Wald. Kitster and Wald both first appeared in the Dark Horse Episode I Anakin Skywalker One-Shot from 5/19/1999.
To cover here tracks, the governor has sparked up an artificial sandstorm. Sabe and Kitster are stuck in the sandstorm. Vader, formerly one of the best podracers the galaxy had ever seen, fires up Kitster’s slapdash machine and heads out into the storm. He reminisces about Tatooine, his mother, sand, Padme, and how he hasn’t been able to save those he loves.
Arriving at Kitster and Sabe’s location, Vader orders Piett to fire on his location from orbit to stop the sandstorm.
The full power of the dark side (and container kicked up by the storm) save the trio.
It seems a heart still beats below that chest plate of Vader’s. However, Palpatine will not let this altruism stand…
